About 30 years ago there was a little country called Cambodia that had a great war. The leader that instigated this war decided that there was no God and therefore no reglious leaders or worshippers were necessary. So he went around can killed all the religious people because after all,they were the "bad" people and only detrimental to all society. The aftermath of what happened in this country was devestating. Fortunately, evangelicals have come to this country to help rebuild and save some of those poor lost people. Watch the video, and tell me what you think life would be like for some of these people if all the people that believed in God were suddently gone. Try to remember this video next time you say that religion is the cause of all the worlds problems. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uvb4r_6_hdU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uvb4r_6_hdU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
"Atheists....the reality of your wet dream. A life without God." i got news for you. we already do and always have lived a life without god. its really no harder than living a life without santa clause. do you remember how you felt when you realized there was no santa clause and it was all imaginary? or have you yet? In Cambodia, teachers and intellectuals especially were singled out and executed as part of the above mentioned purge aspect of Year Zero. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_(political_notion)
If you have been to Cambodia, and you probably have, you'll know that the cause of the devastation was little to do with the premise of your thread.
I have met a few people from cambodia. One particular was a girl close to my age who parents escaped with her when she was a child. The were really lucky as the Khmer were only minutes from their door. A worse story was a man, who he was just a little boy and the khmer rouge came. He and he brother were out near a stream by their house getting water. When they came back they saw the Khmer rouge there raping their mother in front of their father who was tied up on his knees. The older boy ran to help, but was shot in the head. Then the mother and father were also shot in the head. The little boy hid quietly in the field waiting for them to go away praying they wouldnt find him there and they didnt. Some of you may think that just because they killed others that atheists have nothing to do with the atrocities that happened here, but let me ask you this. Out of all the murders in that country...how many of them were atheist? Its true that there are some countrys with many atheists that do not go around committing genocide, but those specific countrys (like finland, norway, ect) were heavily Christian countrys just a few decades ago, so even though they are atheist, they still have some Christian moral upbringing through their parents. You will also notice that the countries today that have genocides (countries in africa) are places where Christians are persecuted(murdered) for trying to share their faith, so their numbers can never really grow to a point to save their country. Some of those are atheists but most believe in false gods. The point is atheists....your "religion" is the one that is dangerous.
do you believe thor was a god? how about zues, how about Zoroaster, how about Mithra, how about Horus? if not you are an atheist? I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. .
Oh how clever...did you think of that line all by yourself, freethinker? Of course not...you picked like that line up from the internet. Please change your name from "free thinker" to "I cut and paste atheist quotes from the internet" (I know...kind of a long name,but it suits you better.) I'm sure to you that little line is clever, but its only clever to fools Person A: Are you married? Person B: Yes. Person A: Well, actually you are a bachelor to every other woman you are not married to. (I wonder if that clears things up for you, or if you say "so...that sounds right.) Proverbs 9:13-18 The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment. "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!" But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
so you forgot to answer the question. do you believe in any of the thousands of other gods man has dreamed up over time?
what qualifications are required to be a "free thinker" apparently, all that is required is the ability to repeat the most vacuous "deep thoughts" spoken in the last 100 years
That is an improper analogy. When you get married, you promise to " forsake all others." So you can't be considered a bachelor to every other woman. The analogy above applies to a theist. "Do you believe in God?" "Yes." "Well then, actually, you are an atheist when it comes to all the other supposed gods." You've made a vow to believe and serve one god, while dismissing or forsaking all other conceptualizations of god(s). You may have thought you were being clever with your off the cuff remark, but you failed at poignancy, relevancy. I'm not quite clever enough to debunk the notion that all theists are also atheists without playing semantics with the word atheism. So I couldn't help you out with a proper analogy that works to unravel a supposed flaw in the argument of theists are also atheists. What's more, I'm sure you reject other theologies that do not mesh with your own. Even being forced to consider that the god that other theologies in the religion that bears the same name as the one you subscribe to, describe, is materially different. For instance, a Sovereign God versus a God that allows free will, yet both being omniscient. They are completely different Gods. So much so, that you will claim that one of them is a "false god." And what is a false god, but a god that has no meaning for you? A dead, non-existent god. Well that is exactly how an atheist feels about any proposed god. So while you may perhaps find it offensive and distasteful to be called or considered an atheist on any level, you are holding the precise sentiment of an atheist when it comes to other gods which people do or have believed in in the past yet which you do not. The only way out is to acknowledge all supposed gods as real and coexistent to the one you believe in.